Fourth-quarter charge

Siloam Springs beats Bentonville West for first win of season.

CENTERTON — Morgan Vaughn turned momentum back in Siloam Springs’ favor at the start of the fourth quarter.

Vaughn, a senior guard for the Lady Panthers, hit a 3-pointer to open the final quarter and break a 40-40 tie against Bentonville West. Vaughn then banked one in from the corner and the Lady Panthers went on to defeat the Lady Wolverines 52-45 in a nonconference girls basketball game at Wolverine Arena.

Vaughn finished with a game-high and season-high 21 points and six 3-pointers, but none were bigger than those two treys to start the fourth as the Lady Panthers earned their first win of the season.

“I thought the first (3-pointer in the fourth) was a really good basketball play. She hit an excellent shot,” said Siloam Springs coach Tim Rippy. “The second one, I think we probably got a little bit lucky on. She would probably tell you Arvest wasn’t open, but the bank went in. We were fortunate and it turned out to be a big play for us.”

Vaughn hit a pair of free throws midway through the fourth quarter to keep Siloam Springs’ lead at six points. Hadlee Hollenback scored inside to make it 50-42.

The Lady Panthers missed the front end of a pair of 1-and-1s to close the game, but Chloe Price hit two with 3.3 seconds left to set the final score.

Price finished with 13 points for the Lady Panthers, who led by as many as 14 points in the second quarter. West cut the deficit to 31-23 at halftime and outscored Siloam Springs 17-9 in the third quarter to tie the game.

Shania Wilson scored 16 points to lead West (1-1), including all 10 of the Lady Wolverines’ points in the first quarter.

Imani Montgomery added nine points for the Lady Wolverines.

“He’s got a couple of really good shooters, so we expected them to hit some threes,” said West coach Randy Richardson.”We just felt like if we could play our game — which is an inside game obviously — and keep clawing after it just one basket at at a time, we felt like we had a chance.”

NWA Democrat-Gazette/J.T. WAMPLER Bentonville West’s Imani Montgomery (24) takes a shot while Siloam Springs’ Morgan Vaughn defends Tuesday in Centerton.